The school district commissioned a feasibility study for the future of the Johnson and Rockwell schools in 2010, and on Oct. 11 the school district held a workshop to discuss those schools.

"I'm trying to move the process forward," Bethel Superintendent Kevin Smith said Thursday. "We're looking to see if we should renovate both Rockwell and Johnson schools. At this point, we are studying our options. We have not come up with a plan."

Smith is studying the three-year-old feasibility study, school enrollments and projections, and options for renovations and their potential costs.

One option that has been discarded would have expanded Johnson School and Berry School and retired Rockwell. That would have meant too many students in the two remaining elementary schools.

Berry School has 536 pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students; Rockwell has 426 kindergarten through third-grade students; and Johnson School has 480 fourth- and fifth-grade students.

The enrollment projections from a February 2013 study expected the enrollment to decline this year, but instead it has increased by 33 students, with most in kindergarten, first and third grades.

"We are three years into our study and we are proceeding cautiously. This is a major capital project and we want to make sure it meets the needs of the town," Smith said. "The next step is that the board will come back with questions and then hopefully we will make recommendations about how we want to proceed."